Death of a Mortal
by Blue-Inked Frost
Summary: When a mysterious murder occurs in the mortal world, Knight detectives Elementa Sherlock and Hamish Wattson are called in to assist. Can they solve the crime in time? Written for the OC Challenge.
1. A Murder Discovered

**DEATH OF A MORTAL**

**A/N: **Short fic written in response to the OC Challenge. Daily updates will be given as this little mystery comes to its conclusion. Try to guess the murderer before all is revealed!

"The game's afoot, Wattson!" she called, diving into the interdimensional portal.

Hamish Wattson, Lightning Knight Detective, Third Class, followed his partner, instinctively holding his breath as he felt the portal close around him and suck him through to the other world in a flashing cyberspace tunnel. The world spun around him, and in a moment he felt himself fall onto rough ground he had never seen before.

Elementa Sherlock, Detective Second Class, was already standing there, whipcord-lean body poised for action, watching for any signs of movement.

"Hurry up," she whispered, and Hamish pried himself off the ground, wincing as he felt newly-gained bruises on his knees. With his excess flesh, one might have thought that he would be shielded from injury, but interdimensional travel _hurt_. This was his first real mission, and it wasn't a good start to it. Hamish brushed off the dirt that had attached itself to his uniform, and followed Elementa, trying to ignore the pain.

They walked through the forest they'd landed in—the trees were of a species Hamish had never seen before—watchful for any sign of friend or foe, but gradually relaxing as they realised they were alone for the time being.

"Sherlock here. Arrived safely. What are the coordinates of the crime scene, Lightning?" Elementa spoke into her phone. Hamish heard the other voice reply, though he couldn't hear the exact words.

"Understood. We'll report to the Thunder Tower," Elementa said. "Expect us in approximately point-oh-four Kyrilian millicycles." She flicked her phone off, and hung it back off her belt.

"What's happening?" Hamish asked.

"The mortal detectives are swarming over the crime scene," she said. "Trampling everything, no doubt, utterly ruining the evidence. We'll report to the Thunder Tower and interview our first two suspects as to the events."

"You don't think they…did it?" Hamish was shocked. "He's Ace Lightning!"

"Everyone is a suspect," Elementa said. "First rule of detection, Wattson." She sniffed. "He reported the case to us. One of the first on the scene. Called us in. He has significant involvement, whether or not he did it." Elementa sniffed again, walking briskly through the woods. Hamish followed her.

He wondered if Elementa was jealous of the other Knight; she had attended the Academy with him, graduating in a close second place. Hamish had studied her records. Yet Ace had become the most famous of the Knights, but Elementa, even after she had found the lost jewels of the Duchess of Doomsday and solved the case of the Weather-storm's Atlas and was the youngest person of her rank, remained nearly unknown. For all that, she probably wasn't jealous, Hamish decided. Elementa's one consuming passion was her job.

It had only been point-oh-three Kyrilian millicycles when they saw the medium-sized building through the trees, and Hamish, panting slightly from the exertion of the walk, looked at her.

"Is that it?" he said. "Doesn't look much like the Tower in our world."

"Yes. Let's go in. We're a little early. Maybe we'll surprise them."

She walked confidently in, Hamish behind her.

The two Knights were Ace and Sparx, Hamish knew; he'd only ever seen Ace from a distance, but Sparx had only been two years ahead of him in the Academy and he'd spoken to her once or twice. Ace was kneeling next to the transformer, pulling at some wires, while Sparx was sitting in a leather recliner, watching pictures flicker across a viewscreen. On the screen cat was trying to chase a mouse under a table, and Hamish stared as the mouse, in a sudden burst of superhuman speed and strength, gnawed through a leg of the table and imprisoned the cat under it…

"Wattson!" Elementa said, snapping her fingers. Hamish turned his attention back towards her.

"Lightning, when did you say you first realised that the crime had occurred?" Elementa said.

"Sparx and I were doing our morning exercises," Ace said, standing up. "Mark called us, and told us that Chuckdude had found the…the body. We flew over there, but there were humans around and we didn't want to go near them."

Elementa nodded. "Mark and Chuckdude. Who are they?"

"Human sidekicks," Sparx said. She was still watching the viewscreen. "They're good kids."

"Children?"

"Yes. They've been helping us," Ace said.

"We'll have to question them. Especially this Chuckdude. You said he discovered the body?"

"He worked for the victim. He came in that morning and found him dead, and called the mortal police."

"Why didn't he call you first?" Elementa said sharply. "This is under our jurisdiction."

"He was a human, and this is the human world," Ace said, rather defensively. "You were called in to assist…"

"Because the humans poking around are something we can't afford. Meaning we must solve this case as soon as possible." Elementa shut off her recording device. "Thank you for your testimony," she said. "We will interview you separately later. Where are the humans?"

"As far as I know, they're still with the human police," Ace said.

"Very well. Location coordinates?"

"Forty, sixty-three, one-oh-eight. It should still be busy. The humans take this sort of thing very seriously."

"Then Hamish will investigate. Let's go." Elementa turned back to the door.

* * *

In the area just outside the crime scene, Hamish saw a lot of humans in blue uniforms bustling around a mortal dwelling adorned with a bright red sign. 

"Use this," Elementa said, handing him a recording device. "Try not to disturb anything. I'll wait here and observe conditions."

"Yes, ma'am!" Hamish said, saluting. Elementa didn't pay much attention to formalities, but it was usually best to keep within the terms of the Knight bureaucracy.

Hamish screwed up his eyes, concentrating, and his rather pudgy form flickered silver for an instant, then disappeared completely.

"On it. See you soon," Hamish's voice came from thin air, fading away as he made his way towards the mortal building.

"Victim died at between ten pm and three am according to my scans; between nine and six-thirty am according to the humans," Hamish said softly into his phone. "No visible markings, but wasn't natural causes either. Reminds me of the eighty-eight plague case; I read up on that one while I was at the Academy…"

"Save the speculation for later, Wattson," Elementa said briskly. "Continue."

"The owner of Jack's Pizza Slices next door, who verifiably went home at nine-thirty, reports hearing something of an argument last night at approximately nine between the victim and a woman, who slammed the door as she left."

"Who was the woman?"

"Lavinia LeGrande. Ex-wife."

"Any other visitors?"

"Apparently there was considerable movement around this area, but most of the nearby shops closed or were not paying attention."

"Interesting. Find out more. Lavinia will be a suspect."

"They mention investigating the carnival."

"Then this matter is as serious as we expected. Return here as soon as you can. We have no time to waste."

"Yes, ma'am," Hamish said, turning his attention back to the humans bustling around the area.

* * *

"…And is there anything missing?" one of the human officials said to another human, a slightly overweight boy a few years younger than Hamish. 

He shook his head. "No, nothing's been stolen," he said. His voice was shaky. "Can I go home now? Please?"

The official shook his head. "It's a serious investigation, kid. Gwen will take you to the station in the squad car, we need to talk to you a bit more."

A human woman walked up, jingling a set of keys in her hand. "Yeah, come with me, kid. You don't need to be around here any longer. How do you feel?"

"I feel sick. You have a bucket anywhere?"

Invisible, Hamish passed through the police station, drifting through the hallways, staying close to the human boy and his escort. A cleaner up ahead spilled some slippery-looking substance on the floor, and Hamish nearly tripped on it, but gathered himself just in time.

"C'mon, kid. We'll take your statement and then you can go," the mortal called Gwen said. She patted him on the shoulder gently. "Do you want a snack? A drink?"

"I think I want a lawyer," the kid muttered. "Is my mother coming?"

"Don't you touch my son! I'll be suing for this!" a large woman dressed in a business suit yelled as she marched into the room. "You leave him alone and tell me what's going on!"

"Your son discovered a murder, ma'am," Gwen said. "We need to take a statement from him."

"I'm a lawyer. I know my son's rights."

"Yes, ma'am. Believe me, though, your son isn't under any suspicion. We just want…"

"That's enough from you, young woman. I'm filing a report on police brutality."

Gwen took a step back from the young mortal. "Yes, ma'am. I understand your feelings completely. I've two of my own. The phone's through there."

The woman sniffed. "About time."

* * *

"The boy was employed by the victim," Hamish whispered. The boy had finally finished making his statement to Gwen, and was sitting with a large milkshake in the station's staff room, his mother bustling around him. "He reported for work at nine in the morning that Saturday and found him dead, nothing stolen. The police were notified at nine-thirty and immediately came over there. I'm not sure what time Chuckdude would've called the Knights; the mortal police don't know about that fact. 

"We'll find out," Elementa said. "Have they called anyone else in for questioning?"

"They're still trying to track down the ex-wife," Hamish said. "She lives out of town, so they expect it'll be some time."

"Autopsy results?"

"In from the labs in a week or so."

"It's unlikely they'll know more than us."

"Have you got the full scan results computed?" Hamish asked.

"Yes. Victim died from unnatural causes, probably as a result of electrical or magical energy. Unknown type, but of course powers differ. It was either one of us who killed him…unless impressive technology was used. And the time of death would have been some time after whatever was done to him; delayed-action effects are likely to have occurred. The victim was some sort of scientist, was he not, by the way? With access to technology comparable to that of our world?"

"Yes. So you think one of his own machines could have killed him?"

"I think that is an entirely plausible theory, and broadens the field to include those humans reasonably intimate with him," Elementa said. "We will see. When we interview the boy, we will ask him about the victim's tech."

* * *

"How well did you know the victim?" Elementa asked. She was sitting next to Hamish across from Ace in the attic of the Thunder Tower; it was a dingy room, piled with old human books, and with a rickety table that Elementa had used for her equipment and notes. 

"Not well. I saved him once or twice. He called himself the Master Programmer. He…" Ace paused. "He tried to help the evils, until they turned against him."

"Interesting," Elementa said. "And the first you knew of the murder was when Mark called you?"

"Yes. We were doing our morning exercises when we got the call."

"Where did you go on your flight the previous evening?"

"We flew over the Carnival once or twice, just to see if trouble was brewing."

"Did you encounter anything?"

"No, it was quiet. Sparx wanted to go in closer, but I decided to play things safe and we stuck together. Later, we got back here, recharged, played chess, and got the phone call from Mark in the morning at about quarter to ten." Ace absent-mindedly ran a hand through his hair as he spoke.

"What were the times involved?" Elementa turned a dial on her recorder.

"The flying…probably from seven to around nine-thirty. We were in the Thunder Tower all night, though we're the only ones who can back each other up."

Elementa nodded. "Plausible, though unfortunate for you. You both slept?"

"Yes. I really couldn't tell you the exact times, but the alarm goes off at seven in the morning."

"So, one of you could have snuck out at the appropriate moment," Elementa said. "Or, of course, you're simply each other's alibi."

"Possible. But false." Ace stood up. He didn't look as offended as he might have been; Hamish supposed he was used to Elementa's bluntness after spending four years in the Academy with her.

"Send Sparx in," she said.

"I'll fly and get her. She'll tell you what I've told you," Ace said, and left, not bothering to be careful closing the attic trapdoor, which banged shut behind him.

"How well did you know him?" Hamish asked Elementa, who was staring thoughtfully at her recording device. "You were at the Academy with him; I looked up your public bio."

"Colleagues," she said. "He struck me as possessing a very professional attitude. More sociable than I was, and not in the same circles. I never knew him especially well."

Hamish wasn't surprised; he'd never seen Elementa talk to anyone outside of her job.

"You knew Sparx?" Elementa asked. "She went through…" Elementa ran up a viewscreen for details. "Two years ago."

"She had a reputation for a fiery temper," Hamish said. "A little tactless. But she was…nice, from what I knew of her, though she was two years ahead of me." He'd seen her around, of course; she was almost the complete opposite of him in terms of talents, brilliant at the practical-focused exercises, but insubordinate and struggling with the theory and memorisation components. She'd been lucky—or possibly unlucky, depending on how you saw it—enough to get Ace as a mentor, and been transported to this dimension as one of the Knights' final hopes against the triumph of evil…

"It's professional to treat them as suspects, but we'll get these interviews over as soon as we can," Elementa said. She shut down the viewscreen as they heard footsteps running up the observatory's steep steps. "And here comes our second interviewee," she said.

"Yeah, what Ace said," Sparx said, flinging herself into the chair across from Hamish and Elementa. "Flew over the Carnival, came back here, powered up, went to sleep, and got a phone call from Mark in the morning. That all?"

"What times were involved?" Elementa said sharply.

"Oh…seven to about nine-fifteen, I guess, flying, and we played a game of chess after we'd powered up. Went to sleep at around ten-thirty." Sparx shrugged. "I can't give you the exact details. Got the phone call at nine-thirty the next morning."

"Were you together the entire time?"

"No, not really…we separated for a bit, just doing surveillance, and…well, we didn't keep our eyes on each other the whole time. Nobody would. Anyway, nothing happened. Can I go now? This is just a formality. You'd do better going after the real bunch of criminals at the Carnival."

"There was nothing going on there last night. You believe the evils are responsible for the death?"

"Yeah. Guess _that's _what they did last night. Who else could it be? I mean, it wasn't a human kind of death and we all know what those freaks are like. I know Ace had to notify Command and all that and they sent you in to help things along, but we don't need you."

"How well did you know the victim?"

"He was just a human," Sparx said. "Ace rescued him once, I think. I never met him."

"And did the evils know him?"

Sparx shrugged. "He was just another mortal to them. I think Kilobyte was the only one who'd bother with him. Unless he sent Lady Illusion or something."

"And you think Kilobyte was responsible, directly or indirectly?"

"Yeah, well, who else?"

"Then why did he choose this method? The human's body has been noticed. Unless the mortal police find some reasonable explanation for the death, we are all doomed."

"You think he should've disposed of the body or boasted about it or whatever?" Sparx rolled her eyes. "Look, he was evil, all right? They're not known as Mr. Logic here. The case is closed." She stood up. "I'd say I had a world to save, but because of everything that's happened we can't attract attention, so I'm just going to sit around and watch soap operas while I wait for you people to finish your job." She left, slamming the door behind her.

"Interesting," Elementa muttered.

"Yes. Slight inconsistencies with the times, but I think that's understandable. What's significant is that she said they separated over the Carnival," Hamish said. "I suppose Ace could just have forgotten to mention that. Or they could have just covered different areas—not separated, but not in direct view of each other either. Normal enough. But the contradiction's interesting."

"Not a bad summation, Wattson," Elementa said. "Yes. That was interesting. Also interesting was that she attempted to fix the crime on Kilobyte."

"And Lady Illusion," Hamish added.

"Yes." Elementa stood up. " Tell me, Wattson, what happens if it turns out that a human is guilty?"

"The human police are satisfied and we get left alone."

"And if not?"

"Then we have a problem on our hands."

"Precisely." Elementa put her recording device back on her belt and walked towards the door at a swift pace. "Come, Wattson. We have more interviews to conduct."

**A/N: **To be continued...  



	2. Mortal Woes

"…And, as we see, it is very clear that aliens are responsible!" Horace Chesebrough said, holding up a finger in emphasis as he lectured his class. "This type of tragic event is precisely what we must avoid by refusing to consort with aliens!" He fixed a steely glare on Mark Hollander, who did his best not to move. "I was there, unfortunately enough, the previous night. Had he but listened to my warning…"

Mark stared at Chuck, trying to catch his attention. _Chesebrough_ had known about Rick?

Chuck raised his hand. "I've…gotta go, I feel really sick, I probably won't be back all day…" 

He rushed out towards the bathrooms, and Mark watched after his friend with concern.

* * *

"Elementa Sherlock, Lightning Knight Detective, Second Class," Elementa said, waving her official detective's identification at the mortal. The Lightning Knights didn't need warrants to fight, but they did need warrants to ask personal questions. "We just need answers to a few questions." 

"Look, I told you before, don't come near the school!" The kid folded his arms across his chest. "I don't have to talk to you."

"Actually, by the power vested in us by Lightning Knight Command, we do." Elementa shrugged. "I doubt it'll take long."

"We just want to help, kid," Hamish said, trying to smile reassuringly at him. Though the kid was only a few years younger than him, Elementa could seem extremely overbearing when you first got to know her, with her insistence on finishing the job at all costs. When he had first met Elementa he had expected someone dedicated—she was the most talented detective they had, the woman whose career he'd aimed to emulate—but not someone so keen on solving a case that she left no time at all for personal diversion.

"Okay. Chuck called me at a bit after nine-thirty. He said he'd already called the police. Um…are you sure you're with Ace?"

Elementa sighed. "Check the uniforms, kid. We just want to find out what is going on. This is important."

"Yeah, it is. Mr Chesebrough is saying it's aliens and apparently he was actually there just before Rick got murdered. The evils and the Knights are staying out of sight for now, but if they investigate the carnival…"

Mark trailed off. He didn't really need to say any more, Hamish knew. They'd all be dragged off to some mortal research facility.

"Mr Chesebrough? Who is he?" Elementa asked.

"My science teacher. He thinks you people are aliens."

"And he said he visited the victim the previous night?"

The human nodded. "Yes, that's what I said. You want to know anything else?"

"Yes. Where were you last night?"

"I was at the movies with Kat. We walked home, and then I played a computer game, went to bed, and then in the morning Chuck called me."

"Thank you," Elementa said. "And what did you do once you received the call?"

"I called Ace, then I tried to go to the scene to help Chuck, but the police didn't let me. That's all."

"You've been very helpful, kid. Thanks," Hamish said with a smile.

"Good. Can you please go away from the school now?"

"Affirmative," Elementa said, and Hamish put a hand on her shoulder so that he could include her in the invisibility-field. It took more energy, changing two instead of one, but he'd be able to manage it for now.

"To the science teacher, Wattson," Elementa said. "We will observe him. He freely admitted being in the right place at the right time."

"Meaning that you think he is innocent?"

"Meaning that he may very well have observed something of assistance," Elementa corrected him. "That window over there looks promising." Hamish thought she was probably trying to point to it, but as they were both invisible he could not see the direction of her finger.

Elementa sighed. "West, thirty-two degrees."

"Oh. Thanks."

They walked over to it, and as they got closer Hamish noticed the flasks on the windowsill. _Observation and deduction. Of course_, he thought, wishing he had better long-distance vision.

The teacher—a balding mortal in a long white coat—was bustling around a laboratory, muttering to himself as he set up beakers and flasks on the benches.

"Aliens. It was the aliens, I'll tell them. I'll show them all it's aliens, strange goings-on, around the Carnival, even around this school—this very school—how dare they. If I had my way I'd destroy them all, invaders, horrible green things from outer space…and he was stupid, too. I saw him in that cage, consorting with them, and he should have listened to my advice. Imbeciles, all of them. Public education system going down the drain. It's the aliens. Everywhere…" He shuddered. "Must think of something else now, obey the therapist. Puppies…trees…kittens…peace…"

"He was there," Elementa said quietly. "It's a pity we can't question him ourselves, but I think he will go to the police and we can get our information there. He's insane, certainly, and willing to talk about it, and I doubt he is guilty."

"He could have, in vengeance for 'consorting with the aliens'. Madmen do odd things," Hamish said. "You remember the ninety-eight case of Bearded William the Strange?"

"Yes. But you believe that he would have possessed the mental capacity to use the technology?" Elementa

"Science teacher," Hamish said. He thought he was probably wrong, but at least his arguments were reasonable.

Elementa neatly jumped down from the window, her form shimmering back into visibility. "Remain here and observe," she said. "See if he proves your theory. Meanwhile, our second mortal child should be home alone by my calculations."

"No problem," Hamish said. Surveillance was something he was uniquely suited to, for all his clumsiness when visible.

* * *

The science teacher pottered about in the lab for some time more, evidently fixing the chemicals for a class experiment—"wasting the best years of my life on these clod-hopping imbeciles," he muttered as Hamish watched, but the science teacher did not appear inclined to go on talking about the murder and his possible involvement. Hamish supposed this would be one of the boring moments of detective work that everyone had told him about when he'd expressed his ambition; and, to prove them wrong, he settled down to take the interesting with the not-so-interesting.

* * *

Elementa looked around her as she directed her standard-issue flyer to land in the mortal's back garden. She couldn't see any people about at this time; most mortals would be at work, she assumed. 

She walked up to the back door and knocked on it, hard. And waited.

And waited.

"Anyone home?" she called. "Chuckdude?"

There was no reply.

**A/N:** Short instalment today. Wait for the next one, coming soon, in which the villains make their dramatic appearance.


	3. Hidden in a Strange World

**CHAPTER THREE: HIDDEN INA STRANGE WORLD**

"I'm sorry." The heavily made-up mortal woman held a handkerchief to her face and sniffed loudly into it. "He seemed fine when I talked to him. When I left him that night I never…never…"

"Thought he was going to be murdered?"

The woman looked shocked. "_Murdered_?"

"Did he appear well when you left him?"

"Yes. Was it burglars? I know he had quite a bit of electronic stuff in that store of his."

Gwen shook her head. "An employee testified there was nothing taken," she said.

_One avenue destroyed, though it was never one we really took seriously_, Hamish thought, watching; he had followed Chesebrough to the police station, and waited as they had taken down his statement before dismissing him with a recommendation to see a psychiatrist and not leave town. Watching this woman be dealt with in turn had seemed like the best possible course, and he had chosen to stay to watch.

"I'm sorry. I can't help you. We had words—he still owes me alimony, you know, he hadn't paid in weeks, he said it was because he'd opened the new store and everything and business was slow, but if he's got enough money to open a store he's got enough money to make the payments, as I said. So we yelled at each other…"

"Owed you alimony?" Gwen asked.

"Yes, we divorced eight years ago. Just after he'd started working for that videogame company and never finding the time to come home."

"When did you get married?"

She asked a series of questions after that, on the subject of Lavinia's relationship with the dead programmer. They had met each other in college—Hamish tried and failed to imagine her as a student—and she had dropped out; she'd divorced him thanks to his spending too much time at work—on a videogame they called _Ace Lightning_, Hamish realised with some surprise—and then she'd finished her qualification and was working as a journalist in Lancaster. It had been the first time she'd seen the programmer in months when she turned up on his doorstep, to check on the progress of various demanding letters he had received regarding money he owed her.

"What happened during your visit?" Gwen asked.

"He let me in, after a while." She sniffed. "Have you _seen_ the state his place was in? He'd really gone downhill. But he bothered to ask me if I wanted coffee."

"Did you see him drink anything?"

"No, I refused, because I didn't want to waste any _more_ time going after him in small town hell." She sniffed again and dabbed her nose delicately with a handkerchief, as if remembering her role as the bereaved, Hamish thought. "He asked how I was—there was some small talk, I think he was trying to avoid the subject—and then I got down to business, and he told me he couldn't afford the payments because of the new store and I'd have to wait." She paused. "I shouldn't ask, I know, but I really have to get back to work soon. I don't suppose he made any provision for me after his death?"

"He never updated his will from nineteen eighty-five—the year when you got married, I believe. You receive all his assets."

Lavinia looked surprised and, Hamish thought, rather shocked. "Oh. I didn't know he hadn't…that is to say…I…" She took a quick, sharp breath.

"You were the last person who saw him alive," Gwen said steadily. "Are you sure you don't want a lawyer?"

"Yes. No. I…" Another pause, and to Hamish's surprise she actually seemed to be holding back real tears when she said the next words. "I _didn't kill him_."

* * *

"Chuckdude?" Elementa knocked on the door again. "I'm not here to hurt you." 

A rather pudgy human boy leaned his head out of the window. "You have to go away. I can't talk to anyone."

"You know as well as I do that if the case isn't solved, the results could destroy this world and your friends," Elementa called. "A human is dead. Don't you want justice done?"

"You don't know what you're talking about and I don't know you," the boy yelled back. "I don't feel well. Leave me alone."

"Would you prefer it if your friend Ace was here?" Elementa summoned her flyer with a flick of her wrist and leaped on.

"No. No, I wouldn't." He slammed the window just as Elementa reached it, and quickly drew the curtains with a snap.

Elementa rapped on the window a few times, but there was no sound from inside.

_Code, rule one hundred and twenty-five section three: unless unavoidable, do not alert native attention in the outlier worlds. Code, rule sixty-eight: refrain from property destruction wherever practical. Detectives' Code, rule seventy-three: jurisdiction in the outlier worlds grants power of interrogation, but steps of force may not be taken unless serious harm to others is otherwise unavoidable…_

"It won't harm you, kid," she said, rapping again.

Again, nothing.

"Can you tell me where to go, then? I stand for justice without prejudice. Tell me where I can find the person who murdered a human."

Nothing, then finally a muffled voice: "Carnival. Go there. Get those freaks."

Elementa sighed.

"You're right. I should go there. But I'll be back."

The curtains did not so much as flicker as she disappeared into the sky.

* * *

The cloud cover was gathering over the town, and Elementa felt free enough to use the weather to hide herself as she made her way to the Carnival of Doom. If the evils had indeed killed the mortal, they would be gloating; it was usually within the psychological profile. Then again, the new villain, who had, according to rumour, entirely dominated the Carnival of Doom during a brief, recent sojourn in the Sixth Dimension, was something of an unknown quality. His origins, for one thing, were entirely a mystery—and it was suggested that his goals were not nearly so obvious as mere world domination. Elementa was sure the ones about his twelve tentacles and fangs were exaggeration, though. 

Elementa landed quietly on the roof of the Haunted House, using a gargoyle for camouflage in case any human passed by, and quickly slipped a length of long, thin wire from around her wrist which she inserted into a gap between the tiles. She placed the other end of the wire, which looked rather like it had a jellyfish attached to it, over her ear, and listened as the Lightning Bug scrabbled its way into the building, seeking out any voices and suspicious noises.

Humans chatting, a pair of humans yelling in what Elementa realised after a second was mock-fright, loud giggles, a yell about a 'bone-man', creaks of machinery, and then a high, cold voice speaking…

"A mortal died. What concern is it of ours? _I _did not even know of his worthless existence."

_Lord Fear_, Elementa knew. The most powerful villain of the Sixth Dimension. This was what she needed to know.

"You do not know of the mortal machinery for settling such things?" A different speaker this time, the voice lower. A laugh. "Even I would not have thought you such a fool, Lord Fear. The mortal world means nothing to me, but I at least was programmed to be wary of the trap of mortals sniffing out this place, until we have such power as to forever rid us of their influence."

"And just what did this mortal have to do with us, Kilobyte? Or should I say, with you?"

The other speaker was Kilobyte, then. _The newest deadly villain on the block. And it seems he has something to do with the mortal._

"It is not your concern, as the mere fact that he is dead is not mine," the other voice responded quickly. "What _is_ your concern is that should the mortals investigate the Carnival of Doom, they will find _nothing_."

_And the plot thickens_, Elementa decided. _What did pass between Kilobyte and the mortal? It appears he is sufficiently concerned about the mortal's death and the resultant exposure not to have risked all this…_

"It was not I who gave the order a few months ago for the riot to take place in the carnival, Kilobyte. Nor did I kidnap the mortal science teacher in broad daylight."

_Someone else gave orders in Lord Fear's territory_? The thought ran against everything Elementa had heard about the villain, and she was more shocked than she was willing to admit. _Who—or _what_—was this Kilobyte?_

"And had you not _betrayed_ me at that time, we would be ruling this wretched world by now. Instead we are forced to hide like rats in a trap as it is the mortals' chance to prowl."

_If he indeed killed the mortal, at least he regrets the deed being found out_, Elementa thought grimly.

"We can take care of a few meddling mortals." A third voice joined the conversation, fruity and rich with a cockney accent. "What we do not need is some silly squid telling us how to do the job properly."

_The talking demon staff, most likely; Staffhead they called him._

"You would be a fool to try to betray me a second time," Kilobyte said swiftly. "I have enough power to destroy you completely. As I should have done long ago."

_If they fight now it _will_ attract mortal attention_, Elementa thought. _Let it be empty threats so the truth can come out before we are all destroyed._

"Yet you have not destroyed me—or, I might add, the traitor. Why is that, Kilobyte? Losing your touch ever since you returned from the Sixth Dimension?"

_Traitor? To whom does he refer?_

"We have roughly the same goals. And it was partly due to that mortal's efforts that Lady Illusion is under _my _control."

She_ betrayed Lord Fear_? Elementa wondered, realising the earlier reference. What other constants about the world she had come from had changed?

"So that is why you are concerned with him. You needed to rely on a mortal's services." Lord Fear burst into laughter. "That is what you have become, Kilobyte. Powerless, compared to me. It is long past time I regained my own carnival."

_Sounds like there really _is _a fight starting_, Elementa thought. _Prognosis: highly negative._

"The slime blobs inhabiting the Third Dimension are powerful compared to you," Kilobyte snapped. "I told you, do not presume to challenge me."

_Intimidation technique. Will that work, against Lord Fear?_

"I'm sure that if she is as loyal as you claim, she'll be quite willing to show up to defend you. I admit, I'd love the chance to eliminate you both. Leave Lightning until last. He should be easy enough to defeat. And from there, I can steal his amulet pieces and take over this dimension. Remind me why I need you again, Kilobyte, please?"

_Correction to prognosis: extremely negative._

"I'll fight you on my own terms, not on mine. For now, the humans have infected our space. We are not going to attract attention that could destroy us…" He gasped, as evidently a shot was fired.

_My responsibility is to maintain secrecy in the outlier worlds and to the truth. I have no choice but to intervene_.

* * *

The place was considerably untidier than Hamish was used to; he wasn't naturally tidy himself, but Knight regulations and his term at the Academy had forced him to start living up to some basic standards. It was an ugly house, though, painted in a peeling shade of dark brown and standing squat at the end of a street; the table was piled with odd-looking mortal science devices, and papers were spread all over the chairs. 

The teacher's rather tattered looking briefcase was placed on one of the paper-strewed chairs, and Mr Chesebrough walked to the refrigerator to pull out a bottle of something.

"I'm an alien," Hamish said calmly, and watched the science teacher jerk in panic as he looked around for the source of the voice, perhaps not even noticing that his bottle had smashed on the ground. He wasn't going to find the voice's source. If Hamish showed his true form, he might well have been recognised as a Lightning Knight (and that game Lavinia had mentioned sounded awfully suspicious); this way, Hamish's capacity for intimidation would be considerably greater than that of his normal form, and the teacher's mutterings about aliens dismissed a second time. Something in his conscience suggested that this was a rather cruel course of action, but he decided that this would be the most obvious way to find out the truth, as per the Detective's Code.

"Show yourself!" the teacher gasped, grabbing a long piece of metal with a rather dull point on the end and waving it around in the air.

"You won't be able to see me. I'm an invisible alien," Hamish said, surprised at how firm his voice sounded. He ducked in order to dodge the human's flailing. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to ask you a few questions. You're very intelligent, right? You said the aliens wanted to probe you." He decided to try a bit of flattery; the man struck him as less intelligent than delusional. He'd briefly reminded Hamish of his projectile-weaponry teacher, Hippocrates Bolt, otherwise known as Hypocrite Bolt, but the later had been in possession of all his senses and abilities.

The word produced an immediate reaction in the man. "No!" He dropped his makeshift weapon and crawled under a table. "You want my brain! Don't probe me! No!"

"I don't want to probe you," Hamish said. "To tell you the truth, I'm not exactly sure what that is." He tried to make his voice as gentle as possible, and started to feel guilty about using his powers in front of a human who was so clearly scared of their kind of people. It wasn't fair.

"Leave me alone! Don't try to kidnap me again! I need the Earth!" He was seriously distressed, Hamish realised; whatever had been done to him (the villains, most likely) couldn't have been nice.

Hamish sighed as he realised there was only one thing he could do.

He let the invisibility field go, and appeared before the human in his real, and less-than-imposing, form. "Sorry about that, sir," he said. "I only want to talk. Really. I'm harmless, I failed Practical Combat first two semesters at the Academy. I just need to know exactly what you saw when you left Rick Hummel's house on the night of the twenty-fourth."

"You look like the other one who came to my school," the teacher said, still sounding hysterical. "How do I know you're not going to harm me? And you lied about being invisible. Young…young man."

"I thought it would be a good way to talk to you," Hamish said. "I didn't think anyone would believe you if you talked about invisible aliens." Putting it in those terms made it sound wrong,manipulative and disturbing. This wasn't the right way to solve the case and impress Elementa. "I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry. Can we talk now?"

"No. Leave my _home_, and don't come back. I'm not talking to you."

"Aliens killed someone on the night of the twenty-fourth of May, between ten in the evening and three am," Hamish said. He wasn't telling the entire truth—it might, for all he knew, have been Lavinia after all—but he had a hunch it was what he'd need in order to get through to the human. "I need your help to find the alien who did it so that I can save my…my planet," he added in a sudden fit of inspiration. "All we really want is to go back there; there was an accident that flung us here." That bit was actually true, for Ace and Sparx anyway. "Some of us want to stay here and take over your world, but we're not all like that. I'm what you people would call a policeman on my world. I'm just trying to find out who killed the human so we can all go on with my lives. I want to get justice done and make the truth come out. It's my job, and it's what I believe has to happen. It's what I always wanted to do, to solve crimes and right wrongs, and if I can I'll solve this one." He stopped talking, somewhat conscious of having said too much.

"And you're not going to hurt me? You're going to protect me from the…evil aliens?" A flash of rage crossed the teacher's face. "Mark Hollander promised to protect me from them. They kidnapped me and put me in a cage. I'm not going to trust you, and if you're a _good_ alien you'll leave my property right now." He crawled out from under the chair and drew himself to his full height, slightly taller than Hamish, who noticed it with chagrin. "You don't look any older than some of the morons I teach every day. I don't have to tell you again, do I, cretin? Go away, and don't even think about letting any of the others come near me."

"It's my job not to let you get hurt," Hamish said. "And if you won't say anything more about what you heard the victim say, then I'll leave." He turned to go.

"Good. Leave."

There was a pause, and then the teacher started talking again. "I told him what was good for him, you know. Told him that if he kept consorting with aliens and using weird machines _I _don't even understand he'd get what was coming to him. He laughed, and forced me out of that hole he calls a store. He said that he would get what was coming to him, and he was looking forward to it. Anyone that stupid almost _deserves _it. I have students like that, and I'm telling you they don't improve as they get older. But I'm more intelligent than that. I warned him, and he didn't listen. It was his own fault."

Hamish, who had reached the door, turned, and nodded. "Thank you. Sir," he added. "That was what I needed to know."

He made sure he had left the house before turning invisible again—he didn't want to show off his powers again in front of the human, it would probably have alarmed him still more—and walked in the direction of the Thunder Tower. The teacher hadn't told him much more than he'd told the police, but at least there were a few interesting pieces of information.

_He said he never saw another "alien" there with the victim._

_The victim was happy about something on the night he died._

Who had killed him, then? And why? And _when_ had whatever-it-was—virus, energy drain or whatever—been applied to Richard Hummel?

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you for all the reviews, and I'm sorry it took so long to update. 


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